


And we loved with a love that was more than love

by RatonLaveur



Category: Free!
Genre: "Studying", A lot of poems, A lot of quotes, Alone time in the forest, Angst, College, Confusion, Cottage in the forest, Crushes, Drama, First Love, Literature, Literature students, Love, M/M, Misunderstandings, Mystery, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Romance, Roommates, Solved misunderstandings tho, Soulmate AU, Soulmates, Studying trip, edgar allan poe - Freeform, very romantic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-05-22
Updated: 2016-06-22
Packaged: 2018-06-10 01:45:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 11,239
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6932857
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RatonLaveur/pseuds/RatonLaveur
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>People live in an easy world - at least when it comes to love. No choosing, no pain, no wrong choices. Everyone has their soulmate and everyone recognises them the first moment they meet. It's all thanks to the tattoo everyone gets on their 18th birthday. The words their soulmate says when they meet. It works both ways. Usually.<br/>Haruka Nanase had always been weird, but this weird? After hearing the words tattooed on his arm from someone who wasn't his soulmate he loses all hope. But then he hears them once more - and weird things start happening.</p>
<p>AKA /another/ soulmate idea no one really didn't ask for but I wrote it anyway.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, I said I won't start writing anything until I finish my other fic - and here we are. But this idea just couldn't leave my mind and I just /had/ to write it.  
> At first, I'd like to say that the tattoo idea isn't mine - I stole it on Tumblr (via Google pics) so I can't credit the original post. If you have a link or something, please, give it to me and I'll credit the original idea!!! I feel like a thief now tbh. Of course, I changed the idea a little, but still-  
> Well, nevermind. Because there wasn't enough stealing, all poems used in this story were written by Edgar Allan Poe. Yes, all of them. I'm a HUGE fan of EAP and well, I couldn't help myself. I'm not going to make a list of the used poems since it would be too long, but if you are interested, tell me in the comments and I can tell you the title!  
> This is also the first time I'm trying to write SouRin, so I hope I won't fail (that much). Anyway, enjoy reading!
> 
> P.S., as always, a big thanks goes to my friend Madyson for the perf beta.

_ From childhood’s hour I have not been _

_ As others were --- I have not seen _

_ As others saw --- I could not bring _

_ My passions from a common spring. _

_ From the same source I have not taken _

_ My sorrow; I could not awaken _

_ My heart to joy at the same tone; _

_ And all I lov’d ---  _ I  _ lov’d alone. _

  
  


_ In the morning of their 18th birthday, a tattoo appeared on people’s skin - one word, two words, more words or a whole sentence. It came out of nowhere and those words - those words were the first thing the soulmate of the tattooed person will say when they meet for the first time. Some people already met their soulmates, some people were still waiting for those words which appeared on their right wrist. Most people were afraid someone could see their tattoo and “cheat”, therefore they started wearing wristbands that covered the tattoos. Those wristbands became a sign of people who already turned 18 and became adult. _

  
  


Haruka Nanase - the weird kid - the asocial guy - the finally left our town, thanks god person - had always been  _ different.  _ Not the rebellious kind of different, not even the genius or talented kind of different. He was  _ weird. _

At least that’s what people had been saying since he remembered.

_ He always plays alone. _

_ Why doesn’t he talk to other kids? _

_ Why doesn’t he talk to anyone? _

_ I think I’ve heard him talking to himself… _

_ Have you seen his eyes? His face? That kid has no emotions. _

_ And I’ve heard that his father drinks a lot. _

_ And his parents left the town- Yes and he lives with his grandmother- And oh she died what is that kid going to do now- _

That kid was no longer a kid. He grew up hearing those words anywhere he went, grew up alone and into an independent, handsome, yet still  _ different  _ teenager. Fortunately, he had escaped the mean words and judging looks when he finally turned 19 and left for college - to Tokyo, where he could be anonymous and live his own life. Well, mean words. Those people were actually  _ right  _ \- except for one thing.

He most definitely did have emotions, strong feelings deep inside of him, mostly melancholic and  _ sad,  _ but he  _ did  _ have them. Yet, he wish he didn’t.

He wish he had never woken up with the words “All we see or seem is but a dream within a dream” tattooed on his wrist.

 

_ That day, a few weeks after Haruka’s 18th birthday, his home room teacher decided to make the literature lesson more “entertaining”. She told the students to write down their favourite literature quotes, and then they were supposed to pick a piece of paper out of the bowl - there was a name of one of the student’s written on it. This way they made couples. Those couples were supposed to stand up and read their quotes - first student read their first one, then the second student read their first one and when they exchanged all of the lines, it created a “poem”. _

_ It was rare for Haruka to find something entertaining, but this really caught his attention. He loved poems, quotes, literature - nothing filled his soul like those things did. _

_ Now, he was sitting and staring at the piece of paper on his desk, holding the pen and thinking of the quotes he could use. _

All that we see or seem

Is but a dream within a dream.

_ He frowned a little - that was the first thing that came on his mind, but… Wouldn’t it be a little weird, now that it was his tattoo? He was supposed to  _ hear  _ those words, not to say them. Even though he didn’t care about this whole soulmate thing. It didn’t matter - how could there be anyone for  _ him,  _ after all? _

Here I opened wide the door,

Darkness there - and nothing more.

_ This was better. With a faint smile he showed only when focusing on the things he loved, he wrote down three more quotes, as requested, and headed to the teacher’s desk to grab one of the pieces of paper with names. _

_ Yazaki Aki. Haruka hardly remembered that someone of that name is his classmate - he had never cared about those people and he wasn’t planning to start now. The teacher gave him a wide smile which he didn’t return and removed his name from the pile of pieces of paper. _

_ And so he and the girl, Yazaki Aki, which was a pretty, probably really nice “normal” girl, were standing, facing each other and the whole class was silent, waiting for their quotes. _

_ Yazaki started reading first. _

“All that we see or seem, is but a dream within a dream,”  _ she recited in a soft voice and Haruka felt something strange move in his stomach and the words on his wrist were almost itchy. She said it. She had really said it- _

_ Suddenly, he realised that everyone is staring at him, waiting for him to start talking, including her - her eyes were a little widened as she was staring at him. _

_ Finally he was able to speak. _

“Here I opened wide the door,

Darkness there and nothing more.”

 

“Deep in earth my love is lying

And I must weep alone.”

 

“ _ She  _ was a child and  _ I  _ was a child

In this kingdom by the sea,”  _ Haruka used a different quote than the one he wrote down before, hoping that she would react, continue, add something to their “fate”. _

 

“Round his fate will hover

Till the blow is over

And he sinks - like me.”

 

_ Those destructive words said in her cheerful voice weren’t what Haruka expected at all, but - what was fate? It didn’t have anything to do with poems or quotes. The most important thing was the words - the first words she had ever told him - and he didn’t want to think of anything else. He was saved, he could be loved. _

 

“Resignedly beneath the sky

The melancholic waters lie.”

 

_ This one he had written down before and couldn’t just skip it - because when he woke up with the quote on his wrist, his first thought was that it was this one instead. The one about melancholy and water, and that would be perfect for him. If there was someone who would tell him this, they would be the right person for him. But now - now - _

 

“How it hangs upon the trees

A mystery of mysteries!”

 

“I  _ have been  _ happy, tho’ (but) in a dream.

I have been happy --- and I love the theme.”

 

_ This was Haruka’s final quote and the end of their “poem” that was appreciated by the class, according to their clapping, but he couldn’t care less. _

_ There was only one thing on his mind, and the tattoo felt itchy again. _

 

_ After a few anxious weeks, Haruka finally decided to ask Yazaki out. He thought it would be different. He thought they would somehow recognise each other as soulmates and then live happily as a couple. But when he had asked her, she hesitated before answering, and she had never shown him her tattoo. _

_ He should have known. _

_ He shouldn’t have been surprised when she didn’t seem to feel the same way as he did. _

_ He shouldn’t have been surprised when she didn’t understand him. _

_ He shouldn’t have been surprised when she knocked on his door with a guy he didn’t know standing behind her, saying apologetically, yet happily “he said the words… I’m sorry, he said the words, and I said his.” _

_ And Haruka felt _

_ nevermore. _

 

That was almost a year ago, the moment when his world shattered and the moment when he realised that there really isn’t anyone for him in this world. Maybe he was an anomaly, the only person that didn’t have a soulmate.

It had been almost a year, but a part of him couldn’t stop thinking about it. He was used to being alone, he enjoyed being alone, but this - this was different. Maybe if he didn’t meet Yazaki, he would never feel this way. Because she made him think that she was there only for him. Even though it didn’t work… It was a nice feeling to have someone who was there for him.

 

***

 

He arrived to the dorms in the late afternoon, almost evening. The hallways were full of people, mostly excited about the new place - Haruka blurred their voices out, focusing on finding the room with the number 483, the room he was supposed to share with two more students. He didn’t like the idea at all since he was an asocial person and preferred being alone, but it was way cheaper than getting an apartment all to himself. The dorms were huge, but that wasn’t a surprising fact, the university Haruka chose was a big one, after all.

Spending time with people was worth fulfilling his dream, though. The dream he had was nothing less and nothing more than studying literature, his long time passion.

Everything was supposed to be great, now that he got rid of all the dark things in his life. It was all in the past. He scratched the tattoo on his wrist, removing the bracelet a bit. In the past.

Despite his I-don’t-care attitude, he looked around and saw all the people discussing something or rushing somewhere. Some people had bracelets and some people were walking around proudly with their wrists exposed - the sign that they already found their soulmate.

Haruka thought that it must have been really weird to find someone at such a young age - they lost their freedom, already trapped in a relationship. No, he wouldn’t want it that way.

With this thought, he finally reached the room, hoping that his new roommates hadn’t arrived yet.

When he entered the room and closed the door behind himself, he felt nothing but disappointment. They already had, at least according to the two big bags lying on the floor - and two men, passionately making out in the middle of the room.

Haruka was about to turn around and walk  _ away  _ when one of the men called out to him.

“Hey! You must be the new guy, right? Sorry for the greeting,” he chuckled. The guy’s hair was bright red, and it was in a ponytail, but it looked long enough to touch his shoulders. And, well, he seemed like one of those people who are really loud. Haruka could recognise those people, only because he was trying to avoid them.

The other guy had a short black hair and cold teal eyes who were now staring at Haruka like he had made a huge mistake by entering the room and disturbing their moment. Well, Haruka actually felt the same way - it  _ was  _ a huge mistake. He should have worked harder so he could afford a normal flat or something.

“I’m Rin,” the red haired guy introduced himself. “And this is Sousuke. He said the words when I entered the room! I’ve been walking around with the words ‘ _ mom go away, I’m fine’  _ my entire life. I thought I’d never find a soulmate.” Rin laughed and looked at Sousuke with a teasing look.

“Well, at least ‘ _what the fuck’_ isn’t tattooed on your wrist.” Sousuke smirked and stared back - quite intensely - at his soulmate.

Haruka wished he could somehow change the room or something.

“Oh, I almost forgot- What’s your name?” Rin looked at Haruka, stepping away from Sousuke - probably to focus on the newcomer. Well, Haruka couldn’t really blame him - finding a soulmate must have been really overwhelming. He was just being a little envious.

“I’m Haruka… Just Haru is fine.” He placed his heavy bag on the floor, looking around. There were four beds, all of them pressed against the walls with little night tables next to them. It looked more like a hotel room, but he couldn’t complain. He picked one of the beds that were empty - two beds already having jackets on them.

“Nice to meet you, Haru,” Rin said and watched him sit down on his new bed. “We wanted to look around the campus before it gets dark… Do you wanna join us?”

“Not really,” Haruka shrugged. He really didn’t feel like going anywhere or spending time with people. His roommates might have been worse, but… he didn’t like third wheeling.

“Alright then, see you later.” Rin waved at him and then both he and Sousuke dressed up and headed out. They gave Haruka a last look before leaving the room, quite curious and worried looks-

_ Here it is, They think I’m weird. _

He sighed and laid down on the bed, staring at the ceiling.  _ So they are lucky and found each other before school even started… Must be nice, huh? _

Surprisingly enough, the memories of Yazaki weren’t as strong as they used to be, even though he had a huge reason to remember her and the whole miserable misunderstanding. Maybe leaving the town really helped?

Before he could think about this more, the door opened and someone stepped -well,  _ ran  _ inside. Haruka sat up on the bed again, startled a little. It was an unexpected noise, after all- And an unexpected person, because it wasn’t Rin nor Sousuke.

He found himself staring in bright green eyes which were widened - the guy was probably as surprised as Haruka himself - and at the most handsome face he had ever seen. This guy had sparkling eyes and sandy brown hair that looked messy, but in a sexy way, then gave him a curious look and  _ the most beautiful smile. _

“ _ All that we see or seem, _ ” he recited, “ _ is but a dream within a dream _ .”

“Oh my god,” was all Haruka said.

  
  



	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wish I could write like EAP...
> 
> Hello guys, I’m back with the new chap! Thank you so much for kudos and comments - wow, I really didn’t expect so many of them and they all made me happy. You made me happy. Thank you so much!
> 
> In this chap I’m writing in Rin’s POV for the first time in my life and I’m screaming because I screwed up-  
> (Also I have real problems with writing as/about Rin, because I keep typing “Rim” and it’s like my favourite typo and I hate it so much. So if you notice any Rims, please ignore them.)
> 
> Well, I hope you’ll like it anyway!  
> Big thanks goes, as always, to my friend Madyson for the awesome beta reading!

_“All that we see or seem,” he recited, “is but a dream within a dream.”_

_“Oh my god,” was all Haruka said._

  


“So you aren't a dream.” The guy smiled sheepishly and stepped closer to Haruka, who kept staring at him like he couldn't believe what was happening - and well, he couldn't. “This whole college thing seemed like a dream to me… And then I met you and thought ‘is this real? Is this person real?’ You seem like you don't belong to this world… In a good way. _Dream within a dream._ That's why I said it.” He studied Haruka's face for a while. “Sorry, did I scare you? I'm Makoto, by the way.” He introduced himself with another sweet smile and it was hard, oh so hard for Haruka to actually think and try to find words he could say.

Is this person really…? Or is _that_ happening again?

“My name's Haruka… You can call me Haru. And no, you didn't scare me.” All of this was said in a tone that seemed almost uninterested, but Haruka felt the complete opposite.

His chest filled with hope, he looked at Makoto's right wrist - no bracelet. That could mean only one thing.

Haruka's fate was to stay alone forever, while being tortured by people repeating the words tattooed on his skin.

“Oh, are you looking for this?” Makoto had noticed Haruka's stare and showed him his _left_ hand with a bracelet on his wrist. “Yes, the tattoo appeared on my left wrist instead of the right one. Weird, right? People kept saying I might end up without a soulmate - some people even said I'm cursed.” He chuckled. “I guess I'm an anomaly. Also the words are pretty weird.”

“You are not weird,” Haruka heard himself saying, strangely relieved after finding out that Makoto still hadn't found a soulmate. It was a stupid hope though - he had already wasted his chance. _I'm an anomaly too, after all._

“Thank you. You don't have to say that, though. I don't mind - sometimes it's better to ignore people.” Makoto shrugged.

“People say I’m weird too,” Haruka said without thinking, trying to create some kind of connection between this guy and him. When it couldn’t be the tattoo thing, it could be something else, right?

“Really? I guess we are similar then.” Then Makoto looked around nervously. “I guess you are one of the students who live here?”

“Yes, I arrived a while ago,” Haruka nodded.

“I arrived two or three hours ago with my friend, Rin… He had mistaken the number of the room, therefore we can’t share the room. Oh, by the way, don’t you know where he is now?” Makoto looked around again like he hoped that Rin appeared in the room during their conversation.

“He left a few minutes ago with his boyfriend.”

“ _Boyfriend?!”_ Makoto’s jaw dropped, this information was probably very shocking. Haruka couldn’t blame him - at least the green eyed guy found out in a much better way.

“Yeah, I walked in to catch them… _in flagranti,_ I’d say.” Haruka felt kinda guilty for giving away this information - it was something Rin should tell his friend himself. But why should he care? Those people were strangers to him.

“Wait! Did they-?”

“No!” Haruka blurted out, afraid he might have used a misleading term. “They were just…” _Trying to eat each other’s faces?_ “...kissing.”

“Oh, good.” Makoto sighed in relief and looked at Haruka’s bed. “Can I sit down? I’m a little tired. I’ve been running around for like an hour, trying to get things done. College is already hard.” He chuckled and Haruka tried not to answer too quickly.

“Of course.” They both sat down on his bed, Makoto with another pleasurable sigh.

“Thank you… Sorry for running into your room out of the blue. I was supposed to meet with Rin and he didn’t come, so I was afraid he got stuck in a bathroom or something.” Haruka looked at his companion, who closed his eyes and his smile was kind of _sad_ now. “Now I understand.”

“It’s okay. I don’t mind.” And it was the truth - who would mind meeting such a handsome and nice man Makoto was? No one.

“So they found a soulmate before college started… Must be nice.” Makoto looked at the bracelet on his _left_ hand. Haruka blinked a few times, noticing that those words sounded exactly like his thoughts.

“Don’t worry. You’ll meet someone too.” Everyone did - everyone heard the words tattooed on their skin only _once_ , coming from their soulmate. Everyone except for one person-

“Don’t get me wrong. I’m happy for him. I just… I always get a little bitter anytime someone I know gets a soulmate, because it doesn’t seem like _I_ will ever get one.” Makoto was still smiling, but in such a sad way, it would break the heart of a stone. Or a stoneheart, when we are talking about Haruka.

“Why would you think so?”

“You know… I don’t want to bother you with my ‘tragic backstory’ or anything like that. The reason I think I’ll never get a soulmate, besides the fact that my tattoo is _wrong,_ is that I already fell in love. With someone I’ve known for a long time, but their words weren’t the ones I have on my wrist. And they already got a soulmate.” Makoto shrugged and maybe it was the light, but Haruka thought he could see tears in his eyes. “I’d like to say that I’m over it, but the information is… kind of new.”

Oh,” Haruka said, staring at the man next to him, suddenly understanding everything.

“Yeah,” Makoto nodded. “Oh.”

“I’m so-”

“Don’t.” His companion cut him off. “It has nothing to do with you.”

“If it helps… I have similar experiences.” Haruka’s mind yelled at him - he had never told anyone about the _mistake_ with Yazaki and wasn’t even planning to do so-

“Really?” Makoto looked straight at him, obviously surprised. And it was understandable. There were probably the only ones in this world whose soulmate tattoo was somehow mistaken.

“Someone… Someone said the words, but wasn’t my soulmate. It actually happened twice,” Haruka added when he realised that it wasn’t only Yazaki who said that.

“Is that really possible?” The green eyes widened as they stared at Haruka.

“Obviously.”

“Wow… That must have been heartbreaking,” Makoto whispered. “Loving without being loved… It’s really sad, isn’t it?”

“And all I lov’d -- _I_ lov’d alone,” Haruka recited, without a lot of thinking - those words came out on their own.

“You came here to study literature, right?” Makoto’s voice sounded friendly and cheerful again.

“How did you know?”

“C’mon, not everyone quotes works of famous authors wherever they go. I’m a literature student too. Well, I will be, starting tomorrow.” Makoto seemed to be really excited about it. “And Rin too.”

“Literature is my life.” Haruka simply stated this fact - it was nothing new, after all. “Quite literally. My tattoo is a quote.”

“Really? That’s cool… My tattoo is like the weirdest thing ever.” Makoto shrugged. “Can’t really imagine it being the first thing someone has ever told me-” Then he frowned. “Even though… I feel like I’ve already heard that.”

Haruka felt really curious and wanted to ask what his tattoo says, but it was considered very inappropriate.

He knew this guy only for a while, but was already planning on how to make him forget his pain, while his own would slowly fade away.

 

***

 

The campus of their university looked like one of the most beautiful places. The green colour everywhere was calming and Rin could already imagine relaxing outside and… procrastinating, drinking and drinking and procrastinating. Life was going to be great.

Okay, the imagination of a lazy campus life full of exciting adult stuff wasn’t the only thing that made the red haired guy call his future life ‘great’.

When he was a kid, he thought that love is “bullshit” and “why would he need a soulmate, that’s stupid”, but everyone gets lonely sometimes. Despite his “I-don’t-need-love” attitude, he started dreaming of someone who would “give him the world” - at least that’s how people described finding a soulmate. Of course, he would never admit it out loud, but he couldn’t stop imagining the face of his soulmate - male or female? Long or short hair? Which colour? What about the eyes? Their personality? Their hobbies? Where will they meet?

But on his 18th birthday he lost all of his hope. How could he find a soulmate with such weird words? His tattoo was honestly fucked up and _hilarious_ \- he had never shown anyone. Not even his best friend.

Oh, Makoto.

Since Rin was older and got his tattoo first, he kept bothering Makoto with his complaints about the shitty tattoo, but the day Makoto finally turned 18 - that day, he regretted every little thing he said about his words.

Makoto’s case was way worse. He was probably the only person in the whole world whose tattoo was on the left hand, not on the right one - which made people call him _weird_ . Older people even started avoiding him, saying he is cursed and all this stuff. Rin was really, really pissed off. He hated to see his best friend suffer like that. Even though Makoto said that it doesn’t bother him in the slightest and he doesn’t care about what people say, Rin knew that deep down he is seriously hurt. The red haired guy was also pissed off at _fate_ that didn’t let Makoto find an amazing soulmate easily, even though this guy deserved it the most.

“I think it would be nice if my soulmate’s tattoo - or mine - was a quote,” Makoto said one day in the library. They both used to spend a lot of time in the library - surrounded by books, literature was a passion they shared.

This just wasn’t fair.

Well, Makoto’s weird tattoo didn’t mean that he was never going to find a soulmate - Rin just had a feeling that it will be very hard. Well, Rin himself became a walking proof that even people with weird tattoos can find soulmates.

When he entered the room 483 and was greeted by the strange sentence, he didn’t even realise what the guy said - his first automatic reaction was _what the fuck_ , being mistaken for someone’s mother wasn’t that usual, after all.

And after that it struck him - _those words_ oh my god, oh my god, someone said them-

“You said my words,” Rin blurted out before thinking.

“You said mine,” the black haired guy sitting on one of the beds did the same, and his teal eyes stared at Rin and fuck, if he had ever met a more handsome guy, he didn’t because it was fucking impossible.

Something felt different - something about the atmosphere, about Rin, it was something he had never felt before. He could smell a faint scent of some kind of a flower - an orchid maybe?

Each person reacted to finding their soulmates in a different way and Rin reacted in probably the gayest one possible, but he couldn’t care less, because his heart was beating faster than ever before.

“My name is Rin. Rin Matsuoka.” He introduced himself in a formal way, because _what the fuck are you supposed to do when a stranger becomes your soulmate?_

“Sousuke Yamazaki.” The black haired man stood up, lifting his hand like he was going to offer Rin a formal handshake, but then put it back. “Rin…” He said in a low voice that made the redhead’s spine shiver. “I think I’ve dreamt about you before.”

“But this isn’t a dream.” Rin felt himself grinning and his bag was tossed on the ground. He quickly took off his bracelet and extended his arm towards Sousuke, knowing that the other must come closer to see his tattoo - and well, he _did_ and Rin couldn’t help but stare, admiring every little part of the man’s face and body.

Sousuke took off his bracelet as well, extending his arm right next to Rin’s.

“Walking around with such weird words was really annoying,” Rin smirked.

“Shut up, I have it worse.”

“Wow and I hoped my soulmate wouldn’t be rude when they are calling out for mommy.”

“You little shit,” Sousuke growled, but Rin could see a small smile forming on his lips.

“Did you mean: where have you been all my life?” Rin teased, hiding away his embarrassment from the closeness.

“Actually… yes.” Now Rin couldn’t hide anything, because his cheeks turned bright red. “So cute,” Sousuke chuckled a little - seriously, Rin thought he wouldn’t be able to do something like that and he seriously didn’t expect it to be this _hot._

“Don’t tease me,” the redhead growled.

“I’m serious, though.” And really - Sousuke’s expression just screamed “seriousness”. Their arms were now back by their sides, but they were still facing each other in the middle of their new room, staring into each other’s eyes. Rin didn’t dare to tear his gaze away and damn, he didn’t want to. Finally, Sousuke leaned closer and placed a soft kiss on Rin’s cheek, surprisingly affectionate from someone this tall and cold looking.

“You are more beautiful than anyone I’ve ever imagined…” he mumbled near Rin’s ear and it made the shorter guy’s body shiver. “Even though after my 18th birthday I could hardly imagine anyone hot saying those words.”

The atmosphere was ruined and Rin frowned, stepping away from Sousuke.

“Well, I don’t find “mommy kink” very sexy either.”

“Hey, I don’t have a fucking kink, I thought my mom came to check up on me _again_!”

“Alright, mama’s boy.”

Sousuke grabbed both Rin’s shoulders and shoved him against the wall, looking into the redhead’s eyes, obviously angry.

“God, you are already pissing me off,” he breathed out in such a sexual way, it should be illegal.

“That’s bad for you since we still have a long way ahead of us,” Rin smirked, again, trying to look less nervous than he felt, but it was hard with the sex on legs currently leaning closer and closer-

Their lips met and Rin forgot about everything. The kiss was quite rough - maybe too rough for a first kiss? - but included all the sexual tension as well as all the pining and loneliness and happiness from finally meeting each other. Rin’s arms automatically wrapped around Sousuke’s neck and his fingers ran through the hair on the taller man’s nape. This action made Sousuke hum into the kiss and if it wasn’t the sexiest thing-

The black haired guy licked the redhead’s lips, clearly asking for permission, which he got without hesitation on Rin’s side. Their tongues collided and Rin had never felt this high in his life before.

They pretty much spent the entire time kissing - until the new student came and interrupted them. After the loss of their privacy they decided that it would be better to go out, to look around the campus _and maybe hold hands and stuff,_ but Rin would never say the last one out loud.

So now they were doing just that - without holding hands, though - two guys, who met a few hours ago and changed each other’s lives forever.

Despite his happiness, Rin was still quite insecure. He already overcame the “oh my god is this really happening?” stage and now he was wondering whether this could really work out, or whether it isn’t too weird - they were still strangers, after all. Was this the right way to act around your soulmate? Or were they supposed to slowly get to know each other before touching and more?  Were there any rules for this thing? What if one of the couple isn't interested

“Rin?” Sousuke's voice interrupted his panicked thoughts. “What is it?”

“What is what?” Rin scratched his head, looking around at all the people and grass and trees again. “This is a really nice place, don't you think?”

“You look worried. Is there anything bothering you?” Sousuke's tone was quite serious and he kept staring at Rin with those deep teal eyes that were demanding answers.

“I'm just a little confused. But it's nothing,” the redhead added quickly before he could sound… weird? Like he isn't satisfied with his soulmate? He was more than satisfied but what about-

“Is it about us?” When Sousuke said _us,_ it filled Rin with excitement and pride. ‘Us' sounded so… Nice?

“Yeah,” he said in the end and stopped denying it - he said it while watching the sidewalk under his feet, completely avoiding Sousuke's intense gaze.

“Don't worry.” Sousuke grabbed his hand and their fingers intertwined automatically.

_We were born for each other._ “Everything will be okay. We aren't the first nor the last people going through this. And I'm sure we'll find our own way.” Those words together with a gentle smile was something Rin didn't expect and it kind of caught him off guard.

“Rin? Are you crying?”

“I'm not crying, shut up!”

“It looks like tears in your eyes, though-”

“I said I'm _not_ crying,” Rin sniffled and looked away. Sousuke squeezed his hand as they continued walking, ignoring the people around them, the world around them, because the most important thing was happening _between_ them.

Even though the way they were holding hands was a little shy and clumsy, and even though Rin was still too overwhelmed with happiness and new feelings and kept blinking to get rid of the water in his eyes that didn't belong there, even though they didn't know each other, everything felt perfect.

They had enough time to get to know each other, after all - they had their whole lives, actually.

Because a bound like this, can never be broken.

  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have no idea what am I doing-  
> Sorry for the terrible OOC-ness.  
> Please, tell me what you think about this chapter! Feedback is very important for me and it helps me continue! Thank you for reading and see you soon!
> 
> Come talk to me on Tumblr (haruka-nanasodone-with-you.tumblr.com) or Twitter (DaniLovesSatan)!


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello!  
> I'd like to apologise about updating this so late, but life hasn't been the best for me lately and I hardly get time to do anything. As always, I'm pretty insecure about my writing, but I hope you'll enjoy it anyway!

_ Lo!  Death has reared himself a throne _

_ In a strange city lying alone _

_ Far down within the dim West, _

_ Where the good and the bad and the worst and the best _

_ Have gone to their eternal rest. _

_ There shrines and places and towers _

_ (Time-eaten towers tremble not!) _

_ Resemble nothing that is ours. _

_ Around, by lifting winds forgot, _

**_Resignedly beneath the sky_ **

**_The melancholy waters lie._ **

 

Their literature professor was an old hunchbacked man with a shaky, hoarse voice - his lectures resembled a very old horror movie with talking dead bodies. Despite sounding like he was about to die, the professor was great and could recite long poems - that was enough to win Haruka’s attention and heart.

And well, the professor wasn’t the only one.

When Haruka’s roommates returned from their walk, his (not originally his, but he liked to think about him this way) visitor exchanged a few (sheepish) sentences with his friend (hello, congratulations, do you like it here) and left (the room, not Haruka’s mind). Since that time, Makoto’s face kept appearing in front of Haruka’s inner vision and his words sounded inside his head. Also, anytime he remembered the intense stare of the beautiful emerald eyes, as well as the sound of the soft voice, his heart started beating a little faster.

_ Oh, shut up, you tell-tale heart,  _ he thought, frowning a little at his desk. The reactions of his body made it impossible for him to pretend that nothing had happened - he hadn’t met the most handsome and adorable guy ever --- the guy hadn’t said  _ the words  _ \--- Haruka didn’t wish he was his true soulmate.

Everyone saw this world as something easy, comfortable, awesome - but wasn’t it a little bit cruel?

All four of them ended up in the same literature class - even Sousuke, who didn’t look like the “literature type” at all. Nor did Rin. But it was their main subject as well and Haruka couldn’t complain - having roommates with the same interests was good, after all. Yesterday he avoided more embarrassing situations by reading the entire evening - and even though Rin and Sousuke must have been still excited about each other, they couldn’t ignore his presence and stopped making out.

Despite being focused on reading Haruka overheard a few things - for example that Sousuke preferred modern literature and thought of changing his main subject to editing later and Rin loved Shakespeare and spent long years learning old English to understand his original works.

Haruka loved Edgar Allan Poe and therefore he preferred the literature season in which romantism and realism mixed, but as long as the story was good, he didn’t mind anything.

What could Makoto like…? He didn’t look like someone who is into dark writing, yet he knew Poe. He knew him enough to quote one of his poems - Haruka’s tattoo felt itchy again - and that didn’t have to mean anything, but still...still!

No, no, no. He can’t think about such things - by such things he meant the person that never left his mind - he must focus on the class. Literature was his everything, he can’t have problems focusing, right?

Listening to the professor talking about the first writers ever, he looked around himself - the classroom was full of people he didn’t know, some of them making notes, some sleeping and some texting with a bored expression. Makoto, sitting close to the professor, was in the first category - making notes. Sousuke and Rin, sitting two lines behind Haruka, were exchanging messages written in their notebooks.

“...And the next three weeks,” the professor was saying at the moment in his horror voice, “will be used for your self studying. The list of needed materials had been sent to your e-mail adresses. Good luck with your studies, we’ll meet on the day of the exam.”

The last sentence sounded like the professor couldn’t wait to give them the exam - or maybe Haruka just imagined it.

With those words the professor left and the lesson was over.

Haruka didn’t have any classes until the afternoon, so as he was walking through the hallways in the dorms, he was looking forward to going out and reading, maybe just relaxing or-

“Hey!”

Haruka sighed. Do people really need to be so noisy?

“Hey, Haru! Wait!”

He stopped walking and turned around, quite surprised - who is walking around calling his name? Soon he recognised the red haired person approaching him fast.

_ Trouble. _

Rin reached him, breathing heavily.

“What are you doing now?”

“Nothing,” Haruka answered in an uninterested voice.

“Great! Then you could-”

“I’m doing  _ nothing, _ ” Haruka repeated. “Alone. By myself. Now.”

“Oh c’mon. Sousuke and Makoto have classes, I’m lonely.”

Haruka started walking again and Rin followed him, still trying to change the raven haired guy’s mind.

“Go make new friends then.”

“I’m doing that right now,” Rin objected.

“Mission failed, try someone else.”

“Haru, why are you so cold?” Rin rolled his eyes. “We are roommates.”

“Stop following me.”

“I was actually going to offer you something really nice, but now that you are acting like this, I won’t do that,” Rin pouted, but didn’t stop following Haruka, who started getting annoyed, but less annoyed than usual which was weird.

And so he caught himself asking: “What is that ‘something nice’?” Rin didn’t even bother trying to hide his grin.

“Now we are curious, aren’t we?” He teased, but when he saw Haruka’s expression, he backed off. “Okay, okay. Me and Sousuke thought of getting a cottage or something in the nature, you know… Far away from civilisation to focus on studies. This place is pretty distracting, after all.”

“Studies.” A faint smirk appeared on Haruka’s lips. “Sure.”

“Hey, I’m serious!” Rin looked a little angry now, but his ears almost matched his hair colour.

“I don’t like third wheeling that much. Also, I’ll be able to study in peace when I have the room for myself. Enjoy your trip.” With those words Haruka left Rin, who probably gave up, standing in the middle of the hallway.

He was everything but a people person and even though his roommates weren’t really  _ bad _ , he wasn’t thoroughly happy about the idea of spending some extra time with them. Actually, he already missed living alone in the small town-

Well, only living alone. Getting rid of the  _ other things  _ was seriously worth having to deal with roommates. So far he liked college - all he had to do was attend a few classes and study things he actually enjoyed. Finally he reached his (their) room and entered it with a heavy, satisifed sigh. Since he had about three hours before another class starts, he decided to read and then have lunch in the school canteen. He dropped his bag on the ground and laid down on his bed. His original plan was to relax a bit, but his mind was too worked up for that. Also his tattoo was itchy again - he frowned and scratched it in almost an aggresive way.

“Okay,” he said and sat up on the bed. “I know he is handsome and nice and -  _ oh god,  _ but I was trying to get him off my mind and you keep reminding me of him, so it clearly doesn’t work and I’m not okay with that.”

The itchy feeling didn’t disappear and Haruka felt stupid for talking to his  _ hand.  _ He stood up again, grabbed a book from his huge bag - which was still lying on the ground, unpacked - and headed out to clear his head a bit. It was really needed.

It felt like the history was repeating itself, yet it was different from the thing with Yazaki. Even though Haruka was now in the phase “the words have been said - time to confess” (according to his past experiences), but this time he honestly wasn’t planning to screw things up like that. No, he wasn’t going to confess to Makoto - nor tell him about what had happened. He knew it’s pointless anyway and it would be stupid to make the same mistake twice, right?

So goddamn stu-

Lost in his frantic and confused thoughts, he forgot to pay attention to things around him and bumped into something. Or more like  _ crashed  _ into something, because after the collision with - oh, a wall - he saw stars and his vision went a little blurry.

“Are you okay?”

Someone had seen him and Haruka was sure it wasn’t a really good sight - he felt embarrassed and still a little dizzy. When his sight returned to normal, he saw the last person he wanted to see at such a situation.

“Are you okay?” Makoto repeated in a more worried tone this time.

“Yes… I was daydreaming and didn’t notice the wall.” Haruka rubbed his forehead, it really  _ hurt _ \- For an unknown reason he didn’t mind being honest with Makoto while he would be embarrassed if it was anyone else.

_ “They who dream by day are cognizant of many things which escape those who dream only by night.  _ You should be careful, though.” Makoto gently removed Haruka’s hand and looked at his forehead - it was quite an intense stare and Haruka felt like the other could read his mind at the moment.

“That was another quote,” Haruka stated - it wasn’t a question, he knew and  _ liked  _ this quote. Makoto stopped staring at his forehead and smiled.

“Yeah. Glad to meet someone who likes the same things as me.” The taller guy looked a little shy now. “It doesn’t happen that often.”

“Same for me.”

And the awkward silence was back, Haruka didn’t know what to do with his hands, or where to look, because he didn’t want to stare at Makoto  _ too much  _ and he felt the urge to scratch his tattoo-

“I was about to go eat in the school canteen…” Makoto finally broke the silence. “Do you want to - to go with me?” He stuttered a bit, but finished his sentence anyway.

Haruka could hardly believe his reaction - it sounded like  _ music  _ to his ears, maybe due to the incident with the wall and maybe it was just that he had been dreaming of such things for a while. He remained silent for a while since he didn't want to seem desperate - but his insides were screaming  _ yes _ .

The man woke up some strange desire deep within him - Haruka wished it was just because of what he said when they first met, but it was also something about  _ him _ , about Makoto himself that covered his brain in fog.

Once again he wanted to be  _ loved,  _ to get rid of his loneliness-

Too many things made it impossible.  _ Leave my loneliness unbroken,  _ he thought as he looked at Makoto, creating a wide smile on the taller guy’s face by saying “yes, sure”.  _ Take thy beak from out my heart… _

That description was too dark for what Makoto was doing - and it wasn’t his fault that Haruka found him  _ attractive. _

But-

He definitely wasn’t playing fair. All the side glances and sweet smiles Makoto sent him during their walk to the canteen and even a few touches when their hands brushed together - it just wasn’t  _ fair. _

“How did you sleep?” Makoto asked before they entered the canteen.

“Fine. It’s hard to sleep at a new place, but I can’t complain.” Haruka shrugged. “How about you?”

“Well… My roommate snores a lot. It was one hell of a night, I’m not even joking,” Makoto chuckled. “I’ll probably try sleeping in the bathroom.”

“Well, I’m lucky my roommates don’t sleep in one bed. This way there aren’t any noises that could disturb my sleep,” Haruka tried to joke - and realised what he said when Makoto flinched and the smile faded away.

Haruka suddenly saw the words “it was one hell of a night” in a different light - did Makoto spend the entire night thinking about his broken heart? Did he cry…? Haruka somehow wanted to be there to comfort him-

“I’m sorry,” he mumbled.

“It’s okay, don’t worry. I’m almost over it.” They grabbed some weird looking food - rice with… something? - and Makoto chose a table in the end of the large room.

_ Liar, _ Haruka thought when they sat down.

“I’m not lying,” Makoto said and now it was Haruka’s turn to flinch - could he read his mind?! “I’ve always thought something like that would hurt me more. Destroy me. But… It was just a little shocking and way less painful than I thought it would be.” He seemed to be lost in his thought - like he still couldn't believe it. Then the emerald eyes looked directly at Haruka and Makoto smiled happily. “Since I came here, I've felt like a completely new person!”

“We arrived yesterday,” Haruka said as he began to eat the… Strange rice thing.

“Yes, but I already feel… different. Like something has changed.” Makoto did the same, obviously caring less about the weirdness of the meal than Haruka did.

“Now that you are talking about it…” The black haired man frowned at his lunch, this time it was because of his thoughts, not the meal. “I feel like  _ something  _ had changed too.” Then he looked up at the other. “I thought you had classes.”

“The first class was cancelled… How did you know?”

“I ran into Rin…”  _ More like he ran into me… On purpose. _

“I see. Me too, actually. A few minutes before I met you.” Makoto continued eating like nothing had happened, but Haruka felt the embarrassment stronger than before. “He asked me to go on a studying trip with him and his boyfriend.”

Haruka studied Makoto's face for a while, but hadn't noticed any expression changes.

“I said yes. It's a bunch of new things… I thought it could be better to study in a group.”

“Yeah, right.” Haruka was almost done with his rice thing.

“Do you wanna go too?” Makoto asked suddenly, causing Haruka to almost choke on his meal.

“Not really…” He mumbled, trying to stick to his previous opinion.

“Please?”

No, no, no,  _ don't  _ make the puppy eyes. Makoto was the most adorable thing at the moment and just imagining spending a few days with him in the cottage somewhere in the nature Rin was talking about…

“Okay. I'm going,” he heard himself saying.

“Really? I'm so happy!” Makoto's face was shining like a little sun and lighting up the whole room. “Also…” He finished the last piece of his meal, while Haruka had been done for a while. “...If I was the only one there with  _ them, _ it would be like third wheeling, you know.”

“And this way it will look like a double date?”

Makoto choked on his last piece of rice and looked at Haruka, startled and blushing.

“That's not what I meant…”

“I was joking. Sorry.” Haruka shrugged like he didn't care, yet he felt a little disappointed for some reason.

“Oh… You seem pretty serious all the time, so I didn't know.” Makoto chuckled nervously and stood up.

Haruka mentally scolded himself for saying such things - but he couldn’t help himself at the moment. “Such things” made him change his mind about the studying trip, after all.

“So you are really going?” Makoto asked again, looking a little unsure.

“Yes,” Haruka nodded, he didn’t have to think about it anymore - he definitely decided to give it a try. Something about Makoto’s presence felt so good he wanted to be  _ closer _ and now he had the opportunity.

“I’m pretty sure Rin will be happy about it.”

“Yeah,” the black haired guy sighed, knowing that he will have to come up with an excuse why he suddenly felt so social.

 

***

 

The idea of getting a cottage for studies was one of the best ideas ever and nobody could tell Rin otherwise.

It definitely  _ wasn’t  _ only because he wanted to spend some time with Sousuke alone in a cottage in a forest. He wanted to be a responsible student and-

Okay, it was mostly because he wanted to have some privacy with Sousuke. He tried to invite Haru over and that way cover his true intentions, but… What is wrong with that guy?! Rin almost growled out loud. He never shuts up about the… the  _ thing  _ he saw when he arrived and keeps making fun of Rin. And Rin doesn’t like it.

Or at least he thought Haru was making fun of him. That guy’s expression never changes. But now that he refused… Rin sighed in frustration.  _ What do I do with him, huh? _

Instead of thinking about his weird roommate, he decided to focus on his fresh memories of the  _ other one.  _ All the sweet words and even sweeter kisses they exchanged secretly in the back of the class sent butterflies right to Rin’s stomach - manly butterflies, of course, otherwise it would  be stupid - and he already missed his soulmate.

He was kind of lost in his thoughts about a certain dark brown haired tall guy with those mesmerizing teal eyes that made Rin’s knees weak with every intense stare and… Well, then he met Makoto and the cottage plan returned to his mind.

“Hey, I thought you had class,” he greeted his long time best friend who seemed a little tired - a bad night? Rin slept like a little baby, drowning in happiness - but he would never admit it out loud.

“It was canceled. I thought I’d go to the library or something… I feel like spending some time alone, you know. Trying to get used to the new stuff,” Makoto said when both of them stopped in the middle of the hallway. There wasn’t a lot of people around them, most of them were in class, so it was okay to just stand there.

“I see,” Rin nodded, barely listening to the other as he was thinking of  _ how  _ he is going to ask. “What are you doing on that break?”

“Uhm… Studying?” Makoto blinked, almost like he was saying: isn’t that obvious?

“ _ Of course,  _ but… Where? With whom?”

“Well, alone, probably.”

“So,” Rin finally got to the main topic, “me and Sousuke are planning to rent a cottage or something, far away from the noisy places. We are planning to  _ study  _ there,” he made sure to let Makoto know that it’s about studying and stuyding only. “Do you want to come with us?”

“Is that…” Makoto gulped visibly, obviously really nervous. “Is that really okay?”

“Oh c’mon,” Rin was slowly getting angry. “It’s not a fucking cathouse, it’s a fucking cottage where we can study in peace!”

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean-”

“I know, I know,” Rin interrupted him, waving his hand. Makoto of all people would never bring this topic up.

“I’d love to go with you.” Finally Makoto gave him his typical smile and Rin sighed in relief.

“Good then. I’ll text you about the details later. See you!”

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What do you think about this chapter? Please, let me know!  
> Also I hope I made Makoto's crush clear enough, because it wasn't so obvious in the previous chapter. I hope I'll be able to update frequently again, but who knows what's going to happen in the following days. 
> 
> Big thanks goes to my friend Madyson for her amazing editing skills!
> 
> Come talk to me on Tumblr (haruka-nanasodone-with-you.tumblr.com) or Twitter (DaniLovesSatan)!


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! I'm back and late again. I'm sorry for that, but my life has been crazy, busy and I got into a writer's block.  
> I hope you'll like this thing anyway. The storm part was written during real storm, so I hope it's a little authentic. 
> 
> As always, big thanks goes to my friend Madyson who is the best beta!

The four guys decided to leave the dorms in the late afternoon.

There they were - in the room 483, Haruka, Rin and Sousuke, packing their stuff.

Rin and Sousuke already got into a fight that was so intense Haruka thought it would be the end of their little trip.

It was about the place where they were supposed to stay at. Haruka found it interesting - looking for the place an hour before leaving - but didn’t say anything and decided to just pack his stuff instead. Sousuke’s decision was different, though.

“I told you to find a place before planning anything else, but no, you wouldn’t listen to me-”

“Shut up, will you?” Rin snapped. “You could have done it yourself.”

“It was your idea.”

The conversation continued in yelling and insults and blaming each other for the situation.

The trip was saved in the end, though. Haruka overheard Rin calling someone and talking about renting a cottage and, after a few more minutes as he made the mistake of walking into the bathroom without knocking. He saw his roommates making out in a really hardcore way.

_Is it impossible to stay mad at your soulmate or is it just them?_

When Makoto walked into their room with a huge bag and an even huger smile, the day suddenly seemed brighter. Makoto just had this effect on people, probably.

Haruka was trying not to look too excited to see him, which shouldn’t be that hard with his deadpan emotionless face, but he was afraid a sparkle of happiness in his eyes might have given it away.

The four of them put their money together - all of them had savings for their college life and the cottage wasn’t too expensive, so they would still have some money left, but they decided to start part time jobs once they are back - and Rin left to meet up with the man he called before - the owner of the cottage. A few minutes later he got back with a key and a proud expression.

“The man was nice,” he told the others when he waved the key in front of their faces. It looked old and a little dirty. “He was totally okay with driving here to give me the key.”

“Isn’t it a little weird?” asked Haruka with a frown. “I mean… Maybe he just really wants to get rid of the cottage for a few days… Or he needs a company of-”

“Oh, shut up. He didn’t look like a criminal, okay?” Rin turned to Sousuke. “Let’s call the taxi!”

 

***

 

There was a thunderstorm. It was a little troublesome since they had to get out of the car and actually walk through the forest to get to their cottage. The moment they left the car they were soaking wet.

It was raining so hard the forest seemed blurry and the strikes of lightning were crossing the sky every few seconds. The thunder was loud, like they were right above them - and Haruka had noticed that Makoto flinched anytime he heard the loud noise.

All four of them were walking really fast towards the forest, half covering themselves with the bags, but it was almost useless. Haruka extended his hand towards Makoto when he couldn’t bear the sight of the other man juping a little with every thunder. Green eyes turned ot him with a confused look, but then Makoto grabbed - no, squeezed - his hand and seemed to calm down a little. They continued hand in hand deeper into the forest, following Rin and Sousuke who were walking pretty close as well, but their hands weren’t touching.

The forest was beautiful and once they were inside, the rain wasn’t so intense, held by the tree-tops. They could till see the lighting and hear the thunder, though - so Haruka kept holding Makoto’s hand.

The raven haired boy himself was enjoying this a lot. He loved the sound and the smell of the rain, touching the leeves of the huge trees, surrounding them, covering them.

“I think we are almost there,” Rin had to raise his voice, because the rain was pretty loud. His sentence was followed by another thunder. He disturbed the atmosphere for a while, but the effect of the raging nature was stronger than that.

“That’s good,” said Makoto, but his voice was so quiet Rin probably couldn’t even hear it.

Their bags were heavy, so there was a huge relief in everyone’s expressions when they finally stopped walking just before getting out of the embrace of the trees and saw the cottage.

Haruka thought that “a cottage deep in the forest” was a half scary, half romantic thing and couldn’t help but imagined the typical “horror like” house with a hint of romance and felt a little stupid for that.

But that was exactly how the cottage looked. It was an old, wooden little house. It looked like it was about to fall apart, but there was something _magical_ about it. There even was moss on the roof. There were no colours - except for the brownish green moss and the colour of the old wood. The cottage was standing on a little meadow that was completely surrounded by ancient trees.

Rin was right - this was a perfect place for peaceful studying and Haruka absolutely loved it.

“Okay, guys, that’s it.” Rin sounded proud and that was weird, considering that this morning he wasn’t even sure about the location and picked the first random thing he found just to show Sousuke that he is better. But Haruka didn’t comment on that - he didn’t want to start another fight.

“It’s a perfect place,” Sousuke gave Rin a tender smile that probably wasn’t supposed to be seen by other people.

Haruka seriously didn’t understand those two.

A few seconds later, he realised that he still hadn’t let go of Makoto’s hand - and the other didn’t say anything either. It was Rin’s long gaze that made him notice that, so he quickly let go. He felt Makoto’s surprised look on his profile, but didn’t react to it at all.

“Okay, let’s go,” said Makoto quickly to prevent the awkward silence that would be caused by Haruka’s distant acts, Rin’s suspicious stare and Sousuke’s I’m-going-to-ignore-anything-but-Rin attitude.

Was finding a soulmate always like that?

Haruka had no time to think about that, because the next second he was hit by the cold rain again as they ran towards the cottage. When they were under the roof just in front of the door, Rin took the key out of his pocket and opened the gate to a dry, warm place.

When they entered, there was a hint of diasppointment - it was dark and cold. Well, at least it was dry.

“There is no light switch,” Sousuke said after patting the wall next to the door on both sides.

“There aren’t any plugs either,” added Makoto after patting more walls.

“That means…” Rin looked around in the grey light - the objects in the room were barely visible. “There is no electricity?”

“Obviously,” Haruka joined the conversation and put his bag on the ground before heading to the room he thought could be a kitchen.

“What are you doing?” Rin asked confusedly and followed him.

“Looking for candles.”

Haruka and Rin started looking for the candles in the kitchen and Sousuke and Makoto were probably still trying to find something electric.

“ _Heureka_!” Rin laughed with a victorious grin which Haruka could see even in the grey light, because of his shining teeth. He was holding something definitely bigger than a candle. It was a candlestick.

“Perfect,” Haruka had to admit. “Now matches?”

“No need.” Rin took a lightner out of his pocket. He lit up all the candles in the candlestick and suddenly there was light around them and they could see the kitchen.

It was an old styled kitchen, yet nice - it wasn’t broken nor dirty (according to what they could see in the light from the candles) and that was a good sign.

They returned to the other two, still desperately trying to find light.

“Look what we found,” Rin waved with the candlestick.

“Don’t wave around with that, it will go out-” Haruka turned to him, but was interrupted by Sousuke.

“You are a life savor, Rin.”

_I’m so going to hate this trip._

Another lighting lit up the room more than the candelstick did and it was followed by another hard thunder that made Makoto flinch nervously and his eyes found Haruka immediately. That made the raven haired boy remember that not everything about this trip is bad.

But he had noticed one more thing in the lightning - he took the candlestick out of Rin’s hands - ignoring the redhead’s protests - and walked closer to the entrance door.

“Haru?” He heard Makoto’s confused voice, but paid no attention to the others.

There was a bust, literally a _bust of Athena_ above the door.

_“And the raven never flitting,_

_still is sitting,_ still _is sitting_

_on the pallid bust of Pallas just above my chamber door_

_And his eyes have all the seeming of a demon that is dreaming_

_And the lamp-light o’er him streaming throws his shadow on the floor_

_And my soul from out that shadow that lights floating on the floor_

_Shall be lofted_

_**Nevermore**.”_

Haruka finished reciting and kept staring at the bust, completely fascinated. What a coincidence - what a strange, yet kind of amusing thing.

“Haru, that was fucking creepy,” Rin disturbed the atmosphere again.

“I like this place,” Haruka said simply, putting the candlestick on the table. He really did like it - the dark and calm atmosphere touched his soul in a really pleasurable way.

“I don’t know…” Makoto said slowly. “It’s a little… I don’t know, it gives me goosebumps.”

“It will look better in the morning,” Rin assured them and Haruka didn’t know whether it was because he was sure about it or he wanted to stand up for the place he chose. “Now let’s explore this place.”

“Shouldn't we leave it for tomorrow?” Makoto asked in an unsure voice.

“Yeah, it's pretty late anyway.” Haruka joined him and got another intense look from Makoto for that. Rin looked at them like they were stupid.

“We need to find out where we will sleep. Or did you think we all would sleep in the living room?”

“It could actually be pretty useful, you know…” Makoto tried to object again.

“Don't be such a coward.” Rin rolled his eyes and Haruka frowned at him. There was nothing wrong with being afraid of strange places, especially when it was cute.

“Let's stop arguing over stupid things and just go to find a room to sleep,” Sousuke interrupted their conversation - and Haruka's thoughts for which the raven haired guy was really thankful.

The room they were currently in was a cosy living room with a fireplace and a sofa. Of course there were other things, like a table or decoration on the walls, but it was too dark to see everything even with the candlestick.

The next room was the kitchen they already saw and a little old-fashioned bathroom with a dry toilet - which Rin called disgusting - and a simple tub.

That was all for downstairs. In the hallway, that lead from the living room to the bathroom, they found stairs. Upstairs there were two more little rooms - one with a king sized bed in the middle and the other one had two beds placed next to the walls.

“Well… I think it's pretty clear who sleeps where,” Rin shrugged like it didn't even matter, but Haruka was pretty sure he was excited about sharing the bed with Sousuke.

“Yeah,” Makoto nodded and headed - with his bag - right to the room with two beds.

Haruka smiled a little on the inside when his mind finally accepted the fact that yes, he is going to share this room with the most handsome and cute creature in this world.

“What are we going to do about the lights?” asked Sousuke with a frown.

“Let's leave the candlestick here between the rooms and use our phones?”

“Wow, Haru. That was smart,” Rin said in an admiring voice. Even Sousuke looked at him with slight respect.

“Okay guys…” Rin said and looked at Sousuke, then Haruka, then back at Sousuke. “Good night, I guess.”

“Good night,” Haruka mumbled and followed Makoto to the tiny room they were supposed to share. He lit up his phone to see his new “roommate” sitting on one of the beds, looking sad or tired - Haruka couldn't really tell. The black haired guy sat down on the other bed, looking at the silhouette across of him.

“This place is nice, right?” Haruka tried to start a conversation - yes, he, the asocial weird person, tried to start a conversation with someone. But he hated the thought of Makoto being sad because of the lovey-dovey couple in the other room.

“Yeah, really calm and nice, indeed.” Makoto didn't sound different from usual, but his voice kind of lacked the usual… cheerful? Soft? Happy? tone. Even though Haruka could hardly know what the usual Makoto is like…

“Everything okay?” He asked carefully, hoping it didn't sound rude nor nosy.

“Yeah, I just…”

Another thunder interrupted Makoto's sentence and Haruka could see the boy jump a little on the bed despite the dark. “I'm a little afraid of the storm,” the green eyed man said with a nervous chuckle. “I'm scared of loud noises. Some kind of a childhood trauma, I suppose.”

And in the next second, Haruka was sitting on Makoto's bed, hugging the other tightly. He didn't even know what made him do that - the only thing he could think of was protecting this person from any possible fear. He wondered what could have happened to Makoto that he couldn't bear hearing thunders and his mind created really awful scenarios, so he hoped that none of them was right.

“You should have said that sooner,” Haruka whispered as he kept hugging the bigger and taller man - he felt like a little boy in his arms, so vulnerable. Makoto returned the hug, and his arms around Haruka felt really warm and comfortable, like a warm blanket on a cold day.

“I don't like talking about it. It makes me look weak. Or like an attention seeker.”

“You mean in Rin's eyes?”

“No,” Makoto shook his head slowly. “Not everything is about him…”

“I'm sorry.” Haruka bit his lip nervously - what was wrong with him? He would never have made such an inappropriate comment before.

“No, it's okay. You know…” Makoto sighed before continuing. “I think it was just a stupid crush. I don't know why I was so… so concerned about it.”

_And now_ I _am the one with a stupid crush,_ Haruka sighed internally, wondering what possibly could be wrong with his life.

 

***

 

Rin placed his bag on the ground and sat down on the huge bed with a yawn. He felt and heard more than saw - due to the darkness of the room - Sousuke lying down on the bed beside him, growling.

“What is it?” Rin asked and started looking for his phone to light up the room a little bit. After a while he found it in his pocket and pressed the button. “Do you think we’ll find any flashlights downstairs?” He asked when pointing the (small) cone of light at Sousuke. The dark brown haired man covered his eyes.

“I hope so. The candlestick is more romantic, though.”

“We can always bring candles here.” Rin put down the phone and crawled closer to Sousuke on the bed. “Or,” he said as he placed his hand on Sousuke’s chest and started running his fingers up and down, “we can have a candelit dinner when we get back.”

As soon as he said that, he felt Sousuke’s tight grip on his waist.

“Mmm, that sounds good,” the taller man hummed. Rin moved his head a little to see the other’s face. The faint light coming out of the window made the silhouette of Sousuke’s head look a little _magical_. Rin couldn’t help but press a quick kiss on Sousuke’s cheek. The other found his lips immediately, connecting their mouths in a sweet, slow kiss.

Rin was definitely going to enjoy this trip.

“You are really good at this,” the redhead said when their lips parted.

“I used to go to the clubs,” Sousuke said a little nervously - like he was embarrassed.

“Me too,” Rin gulped as the flashback flew through his mind.

“Oh, than that’s...good.”

Rin snuggled closer to Sousuke and closed his eyes. “I feel sorry for the people there,” he said quietly after a while. “Everyone I met there… Their soulmates died. Some before the first meeting, some after that… Can you imagine something like that?” Rin shivered, to which Sousuke replied by hugging him even tighter.

“Yeah, it’s terrible… But now that I found you, I’ll definitely protect you.” Sousuke kissed the corner of Rin’s mouth. “I’m not letting you go.”

And Rin couldn’t stop grinning when he buried his face into the fabric of his soulmate’s T-shirt, breathing in the scent happily and thinking of how damn lucky he was.

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, what do you think about this chapter? What did you like? What did you dislike? Kudos are appreciated and comments keep me going and help me overcome my writing blocks!  
> I'll try to write the next chapter as soon as possible, but I'll be busy till the end of this week, so I won't be able to write much. I'll do my best, though!
> 
> Come talk to me on Tumblr (haruka-nanasodone-with-you.tumblr.com) or Twitter (DaniLovesSatan)!

**Author's Note:**

> Ok, I'm really nervous. What do you think about this? Is it good? Should I continue? Did you like this chap?   
> I hope you'll read the next one too! There will be a lot of SouRin in it. Like... SouRin centred? I don't know.  
> Comments are needed, kudos loved! Thank you for reading!


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